How to make Chettinad Keerai Mandi Recipe. karaikudi special. Spinach Curry Tamilnadu style. A very traditional easy to do dish. With step by step pictures.

Ingredients

For the Tempering and Gravy

1 cup Rice Mandi (see notes)

2 teaspoon sesame oil (gingely oil)

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon urad dal

15 shallots , finely sliced (small onions)

2 green chillies, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 small bunches Spinach leaves ( About 200 grams)

1 teaspoon salt

For Coconut mixture

⅓ cup coconut

1 cup water

1 heaping teaspoon Rice flour

Instructions

Heat oil in a pan and when the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds and the urad dal. Wait for the seeds to splutter and the urad dal to brown.

Add in the green chillies, garlic and the shallots (small onions). Fry till the onions are soft.

When the shallots are frying, clean, wash and roughly chop the spinach.

Add in the spinach, rice mandi, and the salt. Let the mixture boil in medium flame for 10 minutes.

Grind ⅓ cup of coconuts with one cup of water to a very smooth paste. Strain on a sieve. This is coconut milk and to this, add a heaping teaspoon of rice flour. Mix well to combine.

When the spinach mixture is thick and saucy , Add in the coconut milk mixture to the pan. Simmer for a minute. Switch off the flame and remove off heat. Serve hot with rice.

Notes

What is Mandi? Mandi in tamil means sediment. In cooking, mandi refers to arisi mandi or rice mandi. Its nothing but the left over water from washing rice. When we cook rice for lunch, just soak the rice in water for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes mix (rub) the rice and water well with your hands and drain. The starchy drained water is mandi. So what is the short cut for making mandi? If you are in a hurry, just mix 2 teaspoon of rice flour in 1 cup of water and mix well. Thats instant mandi for you. We will need about 1 cup of mandi for this recipe.

Recipe by Kannamma Cooks at https://www.kannammacooks.com/keerai-mandi/